My Life

10 January 2012

Continuing our present­a­tion of the upcom­ing release Sharanagati, in this post Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur shows the conditioned souls how to repent for their wicked desires and behaviour. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur prescribed that his followers should sing this song, Amara jivana, every day. Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj explains this in the foreword to Sharanagati, which is excerpted here.

Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

We have heard from Srila Guru Maharaj many times that Prabhupad Srila Saraswati Thakur would say especially that the song Amara jivanasada pape rata is very important for practitioners to realise. Srila Guru Maharaj told us that he would say that we must realise the position of our own self. What are we doing? What are we eating? How are our activities going on? We must have some realisation about these things.

I am thinking it is no doubt difficult for everyone to go on living every day without worldly forms of enjoyment. I am always thinking so much about the situation of the conditioned souls in this mundane world. It is unpalatable and very hard, no doubt. But Srila Saraswati Thakur’s advice is that we must clean our mind every day by singing the songs of Sharanagati, and especially this song, Amara jivana sada pape rata. Just as we clean our home when we awaken in the morning by sweeping with a broom, so we should clean our mind by sweeping it with this song. By sweeping our mind with this song, the dirt within it is removed, it becomes cleaned, and our activities are redirected in the proper way. Srila Guru Maharaj told us this many times: it is necessary to sweep clean our minds every day through sankirtan.

(2) I am never afraid to engage in sinful activities for the sake of my own happiness. I am merciless and selfish. I am distressed by the happiness of others, I am a perpetual liar, and the distress of others pleases me.

(4) I am subdued by laziness and sleep, averse to performing good deeds, and eager to perform sinful deeds. I engage in deceitful behaviour in pursuit of prestige. I am ruined by greed and constantly covetous.